What has Team HRC gained from its participation in the ST-Q class, the "driving laboratory"?

“We, all our team staffs, first went out for dinner together in Thursday evening. Up until the 5th round of the series (at Mobility Resort Motegi) in September, almost every night before the race week at our pit, only our garage was brightly lit far into the night, and every single member of the team absorbed in each work unanimously thinking, ‘Now, this has to be done, and that next. We got to be perfectly ready for the morning session. We’re not gonna disgrace the effort of our drivers, right?’ In such a frame of mind, the idea of eating out in a group has never come up to mind. But, as the car was almost readied and requiring less time and effort, we clattered the shutter down at around 7 p.m., and off went to a nearby restaurant,” said the head of Team HRC, Yoshitomo Oka, at Fuji Speedway where the final round of the Super Taikyu series was about to take place.

Oka has been and still is in charge of the development of CIVIC TYPE R CNF-R running on carbon-neutral (CN) fuel, and was additionally assigned to direct the racing operation as from R-2 of the series, the Fuji 24-Hour Race, held in May. The challenge of CIVIC TYPE R CNF-R has not been very much going well so far since its troubling debut made six months ago, in which the transmission failure forced the car run with its gear fixed 4th for the rest of the 24-hour race.

First of all, searching for the best efficient internal combustion of plant-derived fuel became the most important theme. CN fuel is regarded as one of the most sustainable next generation fuels in line with the CO2 emission reduction act, however, it was known to be less-combustible if compared with gasoline, and requires special modifications at engine side in order to achieve the same performance level as gasoline.

“CN fuel is not so flammable than gasoline and needs higher combustion temperature, which makes the oil/water temperature management much more complicating especially when we want the cleanest possible internal combustion. It should not happen that Honda’s engine is not full of energy, never. So, we’ve done that area through and through,” said Oka.

The development team encountered some difficulties other than the measures for CN fuel. CIVIC TYPE R CNF-R has been developed for competition use based on the CIVIC TYPE R production model with some modifications within the allowance of technical regulations of the series. Oka points out that such developing works tend to get more difficult than same for genuine competition breed and have different types of difficulty.

“The measures for CN fuel went well and then, we had a ‘can’t stop’ problem instead. We added up some racing components on the production model which eventually mislead the existing systems that there’re some ‘foreign elements’ coming into the network. The system was muddled and got enabled to command proper amount of braking force or whatever. Modern automobiles are full of computers being connected in network each other. If we want to change such advanced models into a racing car, that’s another tough part for us to go through. We had hard time to optimize the system for racing use, and after many trials and errors, we finally came up with the desirable braking performance on the update made for R-6 (Okayama International Circuit).”

On the other hand, Oka said that it was also an enjoyable process of ‘manufacturing’.

“I was originally engaged in the development of production models, and I love creating things. I think I’m fortunate to be assigned to the development of CIVIC TYPE R CNF-R. If I was allowed to do the job at my own discretion, I’d like to enjoy it in creative ways first of all, and let our zealous fans know how we enjoy the task so as to wonder themselves, ‘Things have changed this and that, and how’d the performance improve, then?’ That’s what I’d really like to see happening in the process. I don’t think we’d come up with the right answer every time, but the ST-Q class in the Super Taikyu series is a place for developing things, the so-called ‘mobile laboratory’ we’re working at. The challenge itself is worth it, I presume.”

As the matter of fact, since its debut in R-2 (Fuji Speedway), CIVIC TYPE R CNF-R has been continually modified in almost every race at any part that is ‘visible from outside.’ For example, the widened openings of brake duct at the front bumper on both R-3 (Sportsland SUGO) and R-5 (Mobility Resort Motegi), the same mod of radiator at the front grill in R-4 (Autopolis), and the introduction of CFRP bonnet/front fender on R-5 (Mobility Resort Motegi).

High operational temperatures of oil/water set up for the efficient use of CN fuel require not only the extra heat-exhausting capacity but also many other ingenuities serving for the optimum functioning to which HRC reflect its DNA as a ‘Racing Company’ that is to say a materialization of the various corporate potential in research, originality, development and other borderless abilities in hand.

The sizable tailgate spoiler introduced from R-6 (Okayama International Circuit), for instance, was elaborated on the need for a faster top speed, by way of reducing high-speed drag, as a result of ceaseless development during the season.

“We’re given helpful advice internally. The drag could’ve been effectively reduced by rectifying airflow this way on Super GT GT500 cars, something like that. Base car for the GT500 class will be switched to CIVIC TYPE R next year. So, we’re preempting the method in one way or other. It’s our first year to tackle the series so that we have too many things to do. That’s why I just put my pride aside and asked them to teach me. I actually lifted some ideas from the essence of Super GT like the louvers featured on the fender,” said Oka.

It is interesting to note that the developing work, while focusing on the functionality of course, seems to be much concerned about the looks. A newly designed big tailgate spoiler was sported in the final race of the series (R-7) held at Fuji.

“Not just reducing drag, we needed downforce some more, and designed the spoiler that way. You’ll find it resembles F1 image when looked at the rear. As I was watching a F1 car at HRC, I thought the wing looked very cool, and wished if we could bring the image into CIVIC TYPE R CNF-R. So, I talked with engineers about the possibility. If bent it, not only the strength but also the plane configuration and the routing would suffer. Worse still, manufacturing would become cumbersome too. But, I really wanted it looked nice and cool. So, I brazenly copied it, no shame!” said Oka with laughing.

CIVIC TYPE R CNF-R of the latest spec in 2023 (Hideki Muto/Takuya Izawa/Hiroki Otsu) stately run the final race and rounded off the season with the ST-Q class win. A gratifying and deserving victory for the debutant team as well.

“At the beginning of the season, the atmosphere in the team was tense at any rate, but as the car got better and better, I saw more smiling faces, heard jovial conversations, and felt the mood went up gradually. Positive and constructive opinions were exchanged more often which made the car even better. A breakthrough, definitely, I thought. I’m so happy to see both of the car and the team have done pretty good job in the end,” said Oka.

Having said that, it doesn’t mean all the problems were solved nor the goal was achieved by completing races in a single season.

The sister car similarly based on CIVIC TYPE R running in the ST-2 class, i.e., #743 car (Honda R&D Challenge) that had masterfully won the series title covered a total of 121-laps in the final race, whereas CIVIC TYPE R CNF-R ended up with 120-laps perceiving it still in need for improvement.

The ultimate target of the project lies, more than anything else, in providing cars and parts for customer racing to the user in view of expanding the base of motor sports. The challenge of HRC has just begun.